[News Figures] Park Hee-jae, Chairman of POSCO Board, Takes Lead in Facing 'Lavish Business Trip' Controversy Head-On...

Hee-jae Park, chairman of the POSCO Holdings CEO Candidate Recommendation Committee, has recently been taking the lead in many matters. While leading the candidate recommendation committee and proactively driving the selection process for the next group chairman, he has also issued statements on behalf of the committee to clarify controversies surrounding luxury business trips by outside directors. He actively explained the situation in a phone call with Asia Economy.

His leading role in various issues is because he is an outside director of the POSCO Group. He has been connected with POSCO Group as an outside director since March 2019. He served as a member of the POSCO Director Candidate Recommendation and Operation Committee and the Finance and Internal Transactions Committee. In 2020, he was newly appointed as a member of the Audit Committee, and from 2021, he stepped down from the Director Candidate Recommendation and Operation Committee, where he had served for two years, and took on roles as a member of the Evaluation and Compensation Committee and the Audit Committee.

Park’s term, which was set to expire in March 2022, ended, and in the same year, he moved to the newly established holding company POSCO Holdings, where he took on the roles of chairman of the Finance Committee and member of the Evaluation and Compensation Committee. Last year, he was appointed chairman of the board. At the same time, he has been serving as a member of the Director Candidate Recommendation Committee and the Finance Committee. POSCO Holdings explained the reason for recommending him as chairman of the board, stating, "As an expert in academia, industry, and research, he is expected to contribute to stable company management and development through promoting new business initiatives, policy, and risk review."

Heejae Park, Chairman of the POSCO Holdings CEO Candidate Recommendation Committee (Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Seoul National University). Photo by POSCO Holdings

Chairman Park is known as Korea’s first professor entrepreneur. The turning point was in 1998 when he founded SNU Precision, Seoul National University’s first startup venture. During the Park Geun-hye administration, he held the position of head of the R&D Strategic Planning Group at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, overseeing national technology policy and managing a national research and development (R&D) budget worth trillions of won. He also served as chairman of the Youth Hope Foundation (now the Youth Foundation) and president of the Korea Industrial Technology Protection Association. In 2019, he was awarded the degree of Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering by the University of Manchester in the UK, recognizing his research and social achievements. This is the highest degree in engineering, and Seoul National University even issued a press release about this accomplishment.

However, Chairman Park is currently facing difficulties. Allegations of ‘luxury business trips’ have emerged not only in Canada but also in China. In a phone call with Asia Economy, he said regarding the police investigation, "Do not worry." Doubts about whether the candidate recommendation committee can function properly are also emerging within the company. Attention is focused on how he will overcome these challenging circumstances.